Indian Empire

Completed September 1865; Official No. 52795; Code Letters HFKG. 

Owners: George Duncan & Co, London; 1896 Miss E Shute, London; 1898 Ek Indian Empire Co, Ltd (T Shute Liverpool) London.

Masters: 1866-68 Alexander Deuchar (C.N. 15104 Liverpool 1856); 1869-75 JH Blackmore; 1877-92 David Watson; 1898 R Allen; 1892-93 JS Bailie; 1894-96 WM Johnston.

Voyages: 15 October 1869 from Gravesend for Calcutta; 26 June 1871 bound from the Coromandel Coast for Cadiz touched at St Helena; from Calcutta for Dundee with a cargo of jute & a crew of 32 shelost her spars & sustained other damage in an ESE Force 10 gale in the Indian Ocean on 11 January 1873. Two lives were lost; 3 January 1882 at Gibraltar; sailed from Gravesend 2 March 1883 with 13 passengers arriving Port Chalmers, New Zealand 2 June 1883, a voyage of 87 days. On the ship’s arrival a report on the voyage was given by her master, David Watson:

‘The Indian Empire left London on 2 March, had easterly winds with fine weather down the English Channel, took her departure from the Lizard on the morning of 5 March, had fine weather across the Bay of Biscay, and carried easterly winds right up to lat. 1 N, on 26 March, when the S.E. Trades were taken, crossed the Equator on the same day in long. 24 W, had fair Trades and sighted the island of Trinadad on 1 April, lost S.E. Trades in lat. 25 S. Next day took the Westerlies, crossed the meridian of the Cape of Good Hope on 17 April in lat. 42 S, 47 days out; off the pitch of the Cape and to the eastward had a week of easterly winds, afterwards had strong westerlies across the Southern Ocean to Cape Leuwin, with occasional very heavy gales, during one of which the ship was hove to for twelve hours, a heavy sea breaking on board, smashing part of the bulwarks and flooding the decks. Passed Cape Leuwin on 15 May in lat. 41’51 S.; had afterwards very fine weather till nearing the land. Off the Snares on 28 May, took strong westerly gale with thick, dirty weather and very heavy seas, was hove-to from 4pm on 26th till 8am on 29th; when she stood to the N.E. Was forced to heave-to again at 8pm. At noon on the 30th stood on her course, made Nugget Point at dark same evening; had another strong gale from S.S.W., and was hove-to again for a few hours on 31 May. Sighted Otago Heads on the morning of 1 June at 4 o’clock; was taken by the strong S.W. breeze past the port to the N.E., beat back and made the Heads at 11am on 2 June, was taken in tow by the Plucky, and anchored off Carey’s Bay at 0.30pm. The voyage from London to Port Chalmers occupied 92 days. Neither ice nor wreckage was seen during the voyage, and no casualties happened. ‘

From London for Sydney, NSW she sank after a collision off St Catherine’s Point, Isle of Wight in 50.38N/1.18W on 11 May 1884 and was refloated; August 1884 arrived Sydney, NSW from London; February 1892 from Calcutta for Dundee; 22 May 1895 from Cardiff for Port Pirie with a cargo of coke she went ashore at Shoalwater Point, Gulf of St Vincent.

Bound from Newcastle-on-Tyne for Molendo, Peru in July 1895 she ran into fierce gales of hurricane force & on 12 August a heavy squall threw her on her beam ends, the cargo shifted & her deck rail was under 12 feet of water. On 9 November the steward, Thomas Peebles Doig, was washed overboard & drowned. The crew took to a lifeboat but on 18 August reboarded their vessel. The deckhouse was washed away & all navigation charts, books & the chromometer were lost. The mainyard, crossjack, spanker boom, jibbom & three boats were also lost. A German ship gave her charts & a chromometer & the crew jettisoned 100 tons of cargo to save the vessel.  She arrived at Callao on 2 November 1895 in an extremely distressed condition, was declared a total destructive loss & sold. She was hulked in 1899. The British register for the Indian Empire closed in 1900.